_{Velella Velella photo by Philip Kramer}

Chow Nasty, Velella Velella, James Pants, the Gomorran Social Aid & Pleasure Club
(Nectar) Velella Velella are the epitome of party music, and when paired with Chow Nasty tonight at Nectar, the Fremont club’s gonna be dripping with glittery sweat. Not that there aren’t plenty of other feel-good, get-the-fuck-up-and-dance bands in Seattle (U.S.E, Coconut Coolouts, Little Party and the Bad Business, to name a few), but Velella Velella bring a smoother, sexier vibe to their synth-inclined grooves. Which is not to suggest that they don’t also lay it down with some quick-moving, hand-clapping, Dismemberment Plan–on-a-good-day party funk either. “Free Airline Tickets” from the band’s Fight Club EP is the starry soundtrack to Club Pop on the planet Mars. MEGAN SELING

Also tonight, the Willie Nelson Project performs at the Triple Door. The Score highlighted their efforts in this week’s issue:

I phoned Seattle trumpeter Thomas Marriott with just one question about his latest disc, Crazy: The Music of Willie Nelson (Origin): Why Willie Nelson?

As if anticipating my question, Marriott reflected, “In jazz, we have a lexicon of songs—the repertory of standard tunes. Many of them,” he added, “come from movies made in the 1930s. The repertory needs updating.”

And why not with country songs? Aside from experimental music, I can’t think of any other genre so damaged by easy clichés. The outsize cowboy hats, the big (and usually bad) hair, and visions of Bud Light–swilling fans who have never stacked bales of hay or slopped hogs (I did both growing up) belie the sophisticated construction and melodic richness of country music.

Also tonight, the first installment of Season of the Witch, a new DJ night at Moe featuring The Stranger’s own Ari Spool and Bree TacocaT (of duh, TacocaT). They’ll be spinning some rock and punk and I’m sure Spool will dip into some psych stuff too. Right, Ari? Right?